By Paul Gomme and Peter Rupert
The BLS announced that payroll employment increased 162,000 in August, the second highest since December, 2024. Private employment was up 127,000.
Average weekly hours increased 0.1, now sitting at 34.4, and with the 127,000 increase in employment total hours of work increased by 0.39%. Total hours measures the hours of work that firms paid to produce output. While the headline employment number is what the market tends to react to on announcement, notice there can be times when employment rises but total hours fall, meaning firms actually paid for fewer hours. A glaring example is February and March. The number of employed persons fell by 148,000 in February and total hours also fell. However in March, private employment rose by 202,000 yet total hours paid fell.
The household survey reported an increase in employment of 569,000. Labor force participation increased from 61.4% to 61.6%. The number of people not in the labor force shrank by 551,000. These changes increased the unemployment rate slightly, from 4.09% to 4.14%.
